Day 12

After breakfast Zhao Feng delivered my shop work table. It just fit through the door between the main living area and the workshop area. I then worked with Zhao Fang on the fabrication of the steel inserts with swivel hooks for the glass sculptures. He said there would be no problem getting 2 centimeter in diameter steel rods, but getting steel rod in a 2.25 diameter could not be done. Leslie and I then went to 798 to meet Jim Boyce at Café Pause for lunch. I decided to take the electric bike, because it would give us more freedom and we could look for the shops near the Lido hotel for presents for the grandchildren. All of the roads in 798 were under repair. It was extremely dusty and treacherous. Of course, getting there was an adventure, since the traffic in that area is much heavier than Hegezhuang and its surroundings. 798 is becoming much more like Times Square. Gift shops are replacing some of the galleries.

Jim, who left Amcham eight months ago, is still enjoying his freedom. He loves wine and has focused his energies on developing the wine market in China. He just had dinner with a head of one of the best-known first cru Bordeaux producers. There was a banquet prepared to complement the wines. Unfortunately, the dry and elegant Bordeaux do not go well with Chinese food. We both agreed that Chinese beer is ideally suited for this task, but there are certain wines that do match up well with Chinese foods, including very spicy gewurtraminers, rieslings and Gruner vetliners. In fact, Jim is meeting some Austrian wine producers this weekend. After lunch, we then went to Red Gate Gallery-798 to see Li Gang’s one-man show. I liked some of the pieces, but Jim was not enthusiastic and thought that the photographs were somewhat depressing, because they were all black and gray tones.

We then went to Linda’s Gallery right next door. The owner is extremely flamboyant, but I liked what she was showing at CIGE, most of which was back in her gallery. She explained to us that she is trying to promote Indonesian artists for a number of years. This year was the first time that she was able to sell anything Indonesian at the annual Beijing Art Fair. Everyone liked her stuff, and we talked about her coming to the studio to see my work, and about going on my website. Her son is also named Charles. She thought that was a good omen.

Next, we then went to the Hart Center to see if Lao Dan and Cindy were there. I had previously purchased two of his works. He is now focusing on large oils, rather than inks on paper. I have one of each, but my oil painting is not large. I prefer his prior ink on paper work, rather than his new large oil works. However, I can understand that the new works could be more marketable at substantial prices to Western purchasers. Jim had another meeting, so Leslie and I went searching for the “mall” area where we could buy “Chinese clothes” for the grandchildren. I found the area, but there were no longer any stores inside the mall.

We decided to head back to the studio. Unfortunately, about 5 miles from home the battery went dead. I would peddle for 100 yards, then we would go for 50 yards, and the battery would give out again. The bike, without Leslie riding on the back, weighs approximately 50lbs. I’m used to a 16 pound titanium Merlin racing bike without any passengers. I worked up a good sweat and I probably needed this type of exercise. We got home in time to relax for a few moments, take showers and go to an Australian barbecue organized by Brian Wallace as a farewell party for Raymond Ghirardo and Megan Roberts, two art professors at Ithaca College.

Since I am attending my law school reunion at Cornell the first weekend in June, we decided to see each other again in Ithaca. They are putting up a number of people. I told them that I was trying to get a room at the dormitory. Their response was that if that did not work out, there would be a sleeping bag for me at their house in Danby. Their art was very interesting, using lights in a very imaginative way.

We then went to have dinner with two old friends, Madelaine O’Dea and her significant other of 20 years, John. John is still doing freelance writing, but has a full-time job as a web designer and communications specialist a for high-tech company. Madelaine O’Dea is between jobs again and is seriously considering managing a very large gallery complex being constructed in 798. It was good to see them again. We discussed politics, the state of China and a number of other subjects before we closed the restaurant.

Day 13

In the morning I made arrangements with Ten Ren, a former student of Professor Wang’s, to come over and do some manual cold shop work . She came at 11:00 and I instructed her on what needed to be done and how the materials were arranged, so that each of the glass sculptures that had the same defect could be corrected. Leslie and I then went out for a farewell lunch at a local restaurant in Hegezhuang. The restaurant had typed a page with English translations for certain of its offerings. Capitalism lives! When I returned, I noticed that Ten Ren had only completed the first step of the “clean-up” process on some of the sculptures. She had roughed off the defect, but had not used the various grades of emery cloth to smooth the defect so it would not be noticed. She also told me that she was leaving Beijing tomorrow and would be returning in two weeks. She had spoken to Mung and was willing to train her to do the job. Mung was enthusiastic about this project.

Since I was not happy with what Ten Ren was doing, I started to do the finishing work on one of the sculptures. Leslie saw at that I needed some time to properly train Mung and suggested that she could go in a taxi by herself to the airport. That was extremely considerate and thoughtful. In the interim I called Abraham to come over and look at the glass sculptures. He seemed to like them and asked what I was doing next with those sculptures and other works. He said that the happiest and most creative time in his life was when he did 5,000 paintings in less than two days. He was in some kind of creative trance. In contrast, I thought how labor-intensive each of my pieces are, not including the time and energy to come up with and refine the concept, before I ever start to actually create the end result.

After about 30 minutes Mung got the hang of it, and was doing excellent job.

In fact she was doing a better job than the trained glass sculpture student. Huang, who had driven Leslie to the airport, then drove me to meet Michael Liu. He had difficulty finding the place. I first met Michael over two years ago. We have kept in touch by e-mail, but never seem to be able to work out a convenient time to meet, which was probably mostly my fault. We talked about law, politics, family etc. On the way to dinner I mentioned to him my frustration at not being able to find a place to purchase “Chinese clothing” that would appeal to the grandchildren.

Right behind his office building is a large free-for-all market with loads of booths catering primarily to Russian tourists. In fact, the signs in the indoor bazaar are in Russian and Chinese. It was very similar to the “mall” near the Lido Hotel that disappeared. So I was able to buy presents for everyone except Ruben, because I know he is very opinionated about clothes. I will find something else for him before I leave Beijing. I was also able to buy a certain type of magic marker which will be a big help in finishing the glass sculptures. Dinner was excellent and I was home by 9:30. I bumped into an Australian couple who had just arrived as part of the New York Arts artist in residence program. It was time to check my e-mails and go to bed.

Day 14

After breakfast, I noticed that there was rust on the new worktable because if had been used in the manual glass cold working. I did not have proper grinding disc, so I decided to run some errands; first, dropping off shirts at Jenny Lu’s, second to purchasing grinding disks and more emery paper at the local hardware store, third going to the new construction equipment mall to check out the possible purchase of welding equipment, a vise, and finally hopefully picking up the metal inserts with hanging hooks at the metal fabricators. Walking through the construction equipment mall I noticed hooks that could be used on the back of doors to hang robes and towels etc., as well as five or six hook units which could be used for clothes in the bedrooms. I was still unsure whether or not they had the correct welders, even after showing them pictures. I made the decision to see if the large steel fabricator near 318 Art Park could do the welding on the one sculpture I had cut in pieces for reassembly in China. The cost of the welder that appeared to suit my purpose was approximately US $650, and I assumed that the cost of welding to reassemble this sculpture would be substantially less.

The fabricator for the inserts invited me to lunch, but I decided to pass because I had too little time. The inserts were completed and were properly finished. I went home to see if they would fit tightly on the underside of each of the glass sculptures. I found a hole on each sculpture that was a good fit for the insert. I then went to lunch and noticed one of Abraham’s assistants, who invited me to join her. Nu Chen speaks no English so we conversed as best as possible in Chinese. She had to leave to take lunch to her coworker, Helen a.k.a. Liang Lan. I brought my book to read.

Two minutes later Graham and Hillary, two Australian artists who had arrived in Beijing the night before, came into the restaurant and joined me for lunch. I shared my appetizer and we ordered additional dishes. Although they had just arrived, Hillary had an artist in residence show scheduled in seven days. Fortunately, she brought paintings with her, because she knew that she could not complete enough paintings in China for the show. After lunch, I returned to the studio to attach the metal inserts with the proper epoxy on the sculptures that were finished. I then briefly worked with Mung on finishing the remaining glass sculptures. Huang then drove me to China Communications to pay the telephone bill in advance, although I realized that on May 1 it might be closed, even though all of the retail stores were obviously open. China Communications was closed for the day, so I came home and did some more work finishing the glass sculptures. We decided to return to China Communications early the next day, so I could pre-pay for the phone line needed for the Internet.

I went to Abrahams and we played some ping pong. Each of us won a game. I then wandered around the area and noticed a Zen painting and communications studio. Xitian invited me in for tea. He went through a Zen tea ceremony. The tea was excellent. Then he showed me his paintings. There was a four part seasons painting that was very colorful. However most of his paintings were black and white, with some gray. They were very good and we talked for about an hour about life, etc. His English is very limited and my Chinese is limited, but we managed to communicate.

I went for a quiet dinner and I bumped into Liang Lin, so we had dinner at the local duck restaurant. She spoke English, I spoke Chinese. I decided to wander around the Dashanzi area. Of course I got lost, but with some helpful directions from two cab drivers, I got home in time to call Leslie and just before my battery ran out.

Day 15

The last full day before leaving is always hectic, because there is too little time to finish everything. Huang was supposed to pick me up promptly at 8:30, so we could go to China Communications to solve the internet phone problem. At 9:00 I called him and he finally arrived at about 9:20. We got into town and he wanted to drop me at China Netcom. Fortunately, I noticed earlier that China Communications was across the street. China Communications advised me that if I wanted to pay their phone bill in advance I could only do that through China Netcom. That did not make sense, and was exactly the opposite of what China Netcom had previously told me. It was frustrating, but I finally persuaded one of the China Communications representatives to accompany me across the street so we could sort this out with China Netcom. After 30 minutes of discussion, China Netcom agreed to process the prepayment of my China Communications phone bill for the internet. I did not want to go through not having the internet because I needed to get another new phone number if I missed next month’s bill because I was in the United States. It turns out that the monthly cost for using the phone for the internet is less than one dollar, so I told them that I would prepay for the next three years. This phone line cannot be used for anything else, or it would trigger additional charges. I never want to go through this again. I had to make two extra trips to downtown Beijing because of a misunderstanding. It was the type of misunderstanding that caused the problem in the first place, but I am now reasonably confident, with loads of supporting paperwork, that I will have use of the internet at my studio for at least one year.

We then went into a local department store looking for Beijing Olympic t-shirts for my grandson Ruben. There were none available, as this is apparently an item only sold by certain stores catering to foreigners. I did find some kites. We returned to the studio, so I could complete the glass sculptures. On the way we stopped at the large steel yard near 318 Art Park to see if I could persuade them to use their MIG welders to reassemble the coral kelp series sculpture I had brought to China to reassemble. They were able do it later that afternoon. I did some more finishing work on the tail part of the glass sculptures and some packing before returning to steel yard.

The boss immediately noticed how I had texturized the steel and began discussing it with the workers. After 30 minutes of discussion, we got around to reassembling the sculpture. They wanted to use down and dirty stick welding. I wanted them to use the MIG welder, since those welds would be consistent with the other welds in this sculpture. Also MIG welds are much cleaner and neater than stick welds. After 20 minutes we were still at a standstill. I called Manuella and asked her to communicate my concerns. She advised me that they were aware of my concerns and would do it my way. But they wouldn’t move the components of the sculpture to the area where the MIG welders are located. Finally, they picked up the pieces and moved them where the MIG welders were located. Twenty minutes later the sculpture was reassembled, and everyone was happy and began taking pictures. They were very excited, as was I, with the results. I asked them to bring the sculpture back to my studio. We rigged up a kind of stretcher to transport it back by foot.

I finished off the last few glass sculptures by epoxying the inserts. Then I freshened up and changed clothes to go to an opening at the Pickled Arts Center. It was a very good show. There was an especially effective video of a series of “advertisements.” The first 10 or so were not so good so I left that room. However, Nu and Liang, who are also curators, wanted me to accompany them through the show for my comments, so we stopped and looked at the video again. Beginning with the 15th vignette, each of the short vignettes were hysterically funny. I had a number of full belly laughs. There was a Spanish artist, Andreas, who was laughing just as hard. Liang got most of the humor and was laughing very hard, but Nu and a Chinese artist who was sitting on the floor looking at the videos remained totally silent. There was also a pitch black room with flashlights provided that had an interesting depiction of ghosts and related Halloween type creatures. It was well done.

There was food and beer. My next-door neighbor Lau Shan, who is also Li Gang’s carpenter, was the cook. Basically, he had a metal table that was hooked up to a propane gas tank and cooked everything on the table. It was mostly noodles and vegetables with lots of seasoning which were very good. Separately, there was chicken done Mongolian barbeque style. I then went over to Andrea’s with a group of other people to continue our conversations and drink more beer. After that I went home, spoke with Leslie on Skype and did some more organizing for my departure.

Day 16

I made sure to get up early to complete my packing and organize everything to close up the studio. Ye Dongsheng came by at 8:30 for a visit. We spoke only in Chinese, since he had abandoned his efforts to learn English. I knew from Helga that this learning experience was extremely frustrating for him. He commiserated about how difficult it has been for him and his wife the last three months because she had to remain in Tsingdao to run her father’s food export business. Apparently it does not earn enough money at this time to enable them to hire the right kind of manager. The son is lazy and Zhu Li felt obligated to stay and run the business, even though she felt she did not have the background, experience or temperament to do this. In the meantime there was nothing for Dongsheng to do there, so he stayed in Beijing to do his artwork. I tried to ask him to take me to Jenny Lu’s to pick up my shirts and bring me back home, but he did not understand.

After he left, I got on my electric bicycle to go to Jennie Lu’s. However, none of the people who work at the cleaners were not there. I found my shirts and then located some plastic so that they would not get soiled on a trip home. I had paid for the cleaning when I dropped off the shirts. As I left the sky became a menacing dark gray, so I got home as quickly as possible. I felt like Dorothy riding her bicycle as the tornado was approaching. I got home just as the skies opened up. It was almost pitch black, and the rain was extremely heavy. I completed my packing and then decided how I was going to hang some of the glass sculptures in the studio. Abraham, who is really good at this kind of thing, was invited for tea but did not come over until the rain stopped coming down so hard.

In the interim I hung one of the sculpture over the alter table behind my desk.

I had decided to hang a grouping of three yellow tadpole sperm sculptures on the wall next to the downstairs bathroom. I have not decided on a name for this series. As I was deliberating on the arrangement Abraham appeared. We had some tea and then hung those three sculptures.

As we were talking Lu Shan’s wife came over and wanted to cook me a farewell lunch of dumplings. I was supposed to have lunch with Li Gang, but he was not answering his phone, so I took her up on the offer. She ended up cooking dumplings for Abraham, Christina and myself. The three of us finished off the white wine in my refrigerator. The driver came and it was time to go to the airport. As we were leaving I noticed that one of the suitcases was missing, so we returned to the studio to pick it up. The driver thought it was funny. I was worried that I would not get to the airport on time to make the flight, especially since there is often a major traffic jam on the Airport Expressway. There were no traffic jams on the Airport Expressway and I made the flight on time.

Everything went smoothly until I left Newark Airport. There was someone with a big sign for Hecht in the appropriate spot. However, when he got on the New Jersey Turnpike he started heading south. It turns out that he was to pick up a passenger named Donald Hecht and had been waiting over an hour. I called Skyline and decided to return to the airport to meet the proper driver. This driver decided to take “a shortcut” through Newark. It got kind of dicey but we finally got back to the airport. From then on, the trip home was uneventful. I look forward to returning to Beijing and am already thinking about what I will do during my next trip to China.

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